shut
to put (a door, cover, etc.) in position to close or obstruct.
to close the doors of (often followed by up): to shut up a shop for the night.
to close (something) by bringing together or folding its parts: Shut your book. Shut the window!
to confine; enclose: to shut a bird into a cage.
to bar; exclude: They shut him from their circle.
to cause (a factory, school, etc.) to end or suspend operations, services, or business activity: He shut his store, sold his house, and moved away.We're shutting the office for two weeks in June.
to bolt; bar.
to become shut or closed; close.
closed; fastened up: a shut door.
Phonetics. checked (def. 4).
the act or time of shutting or closing.
the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.
shut down,
to close, especially temporarily; end or suspend operations, services, or business activity.
to stop operating or stop the operation of (a machine): Did you remember to shut down your computer?
Also shut down on / upon .Informal. to hinder; check; stop from doing or saying something: He appeared on the talk show to shut down his critics.
Informal. to defeat or outdo:The team was able to shut down the offense.
to settle over a place so as to envelop or darken it: The fog shut down rapidly.
shut in,
to enclose.
to confine, as from illness: She broke her leg in a fall and has been shut in for several weeks.
shut of, Informal. free of; rid of: He wished he were shut of all his debts.
shut off,
to stop the passage of (water, traffic, electricity, etc.); close off.
to isolate; separate: an outpost almost completely shut off from civilization.
shut out,
to keep from entering; exclude.
to hide from view.
to prevent (an opponent or opposing team) from scoring, as in a game of baseball.
shut up,
to imprison; confine.
to close entirely.
Informal. to stop talking; become silent (often used as a rude command): Just sit down and shut up! I thought the neighbors would never shut up and let me sleep.
Informal. to stop (someone) from talking; silence.
Informal. (used to express disbelief or astonishment): You dated her in high school? Shut up!
Origin of shut
1synonym study For shut
Other words for shut
Opposites for shut
Other words from shut
- half-shut, adjective
- re·shut, verb, re·shut, re·shut·ting.
- un·shut, adjective
Words Nearby shut
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use shut in a sentence
Instead, insurers refused to pay, and Century 21 is shutting down after almost 60 years in business.
Got interruption insurance? These companies found it’s useless in the age of COVID-19 | Bernhard Warner | September 12, 2020 | FortuneA day after Shanghai Disneyland’s closure, Hong Kong Disneyland shut down.
How the coronavirus outbreak is roiling the film and entertainment industries | Alissa Wilkinson | September 11, 2020 | VoxThen on Sunday, Mayor London Breed shut down not just the Great Highway but the parking lots along Ocean Beach.
The Climate Crisis Is Happening Right Now. Just Look at California’s Weekend. | by Elizabeth Weil | September 9, 2020 | ProPublicaHeeding the advice of public health experts, they quickly shut down businesses, enacted shelter-in-place orders, and built up testing and contact tracing capacity.
Major Hollywood movie studios largely shut down film production in March.
Will ‘Tenet’ revive U.S. movie theaters as it’s finally released? | dzanemorris | September 3, 2020 | Fortune
And the series was implausibly shut out by both the Golden Globe and SAG Awards.
‘The Comeback’ Finale: Give Lisa Kudrow All of the Awards | Kevin Fallon | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA train had actually arrived at the station but its doors were already shut.
Alleged Cop Killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley Had a Death Wish | M.L. Nestel | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“I was really sexually inexperienced, really sexually shut down,” she explained.
Dungeons and Genital Clamps: Inside a Legendary BDSM Chateau | Ian Frisch | December 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd so it was that the federal government did not shut down just when we all had visions of sugar plumbs dancing in our heads.
Human trials of the Ebola vaccine have been temporarily shut down due to adverse side effects.
Another crash, which nearly shut up his spine like a telescope, told him that there were no wings.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneAfter his death crowds flocked to his grave to touch his holy monument, till the authorities caused the church yard to be shut.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThe gnarled hands shut up into clenched fists, and the feeble voice trailed off in an agonized moan.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairHe shut his fist and hit Butterface a weak but well intended right-hander on the nose.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneThe Professor went straight home and shut himself up in his study.
Uncanny Tales | Various
British Dictionary definitions for shut
/ (ʃʌt) /
to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; close: to shut a door
to close (something) by bringing together the parts: to shut a book
(tr often foll by up) to close or lock the doors of: to shut up a house
(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or exclude: to shut a child in a room
(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
shut one's eyes to to ignore deliberately
shut the door on
to refuse to think about
to render impossible
closed or fastened
the act or time of shutting
the line along which pieces of metal are welded
get shut of or get shot of slang to get rid of
Origin of shut
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with shut
In addition to the idioms beginning with shut
- shut down
- shut off
- shut one's eyes to
- shut out
- shut the door
- shut up
also see:
- close (shut) down
- close (shut) one's eyes to
- close (shut) the door on
- keep one's mouth shut
- open and shut case
- put up or shut up
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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